fightingfantasyfandomcom-20200222-history
Appointment with F.E.A.R. (book)
Appointment with F.E.A.R. is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Declan Considine and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 17th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031922-0) and 18th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-527-1). Creation In the Fighting Fantasy News section of Warlock Magazine Issue 5, the update on new and forthcoming Fighting Fantasy gamebooks gave a release schedule which included a scheduled September (1985) release of Superheroes, specifically a provisional title. This was to become Appointment with F.E.A.R.. Background Blurb The reader assumes the role of Jean Lafayette, secretly the Silver Crusader, a superhero who protects the fictional Titan City. The reader chooses from four super-powers and battles criminals such as the Scarlet Prankster, Dr. Macabre, the Serpent and the Alchemists. Besides catching criminals, the reader's ultimate goal is to determine the time and place of the imminent meeting between the leaders of F.E.A.R., the Federation of Euro-American Rebels, an evil organization led by Vladimir Utoshiki, the menacing Titanium Cyborg (pictured on the cover). This book is unique in the series for its use of the superhero genre, and features several tongue-in-cheek references to popular comic book characters. Examples include a dead Millionaire called Wayne Bruce and a kidnapped billionaire named Drew Swain (a reference to , whose alter-ego was ), one Roger Stevens (a reference to 's alter ego), and the protagonist's fiery-tempered boss, Jonah Whyte (a combination of and ). Also, two of the locations in Titan City were named Peter Laboratories and Parker Airport, a reference to comic book character , whose alter-ego was . Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). Unique Rules *''Appointment With F.E.A.R.'' employs a unique mechanic for the series, Hero Points, which are awarded to the player for every villain captured and disaster averted, allowing them to compare their performance from one play-through to the next. The player also constantly collects clues not just to the time and place of F.E.A.R.'s meeting but when and where they need to be in order to catch various villains. *Players have the choice of one of four "super-powers" with which to play the game: Super strength, Psi-powers, Enhanced Technological Skill (ETS), and Energy blast Cover and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Brian Bolland. Appointment With F.E.A.R. was the first book to retain its original cover image when republished by Wizard. #Price of 1st Impression #Price of 9th Impression Illustrations Intertextual References *The main character buys the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook The Warlock of Firetop Mountain as a gift for his boss and a board game. *The main location for this book is Titan City.It is interesting to note that the book was published in 1985, prior to the publication of Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World, but at around the same time as Out of the Pit, when the world of Titan as a home for Fighting Fantasy was introduced. It may be possible that Titan City was so named to link Appointment with F.E.A.R, which is set in 's future timeline, to the otherwise unrelated world of Titan, the home of the majority of the Fighting Fantasy books. Other Media A computer game was planned under the Fighting Fantasy Software brand, to be distributed by Adventure International (UK), sometime after February 1987. However, this was never released. Please see Appointment with F.E.A.R. (computer game). Main Characters Further Notes *The book is made up of 440 references rather than the usual 400. *The book is also unusual in that there are four different solutions depending on which super-power was selected at the start. In fact, it is possible to complete the adventure twice using two different super-powers without reading any of the sections both times except the first and the last. This adds to the book's replay value, although also to its complexity - a lot of trial and error is required to find any of the solutions. See Also *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''House of Hell'' External Links *Character Sheet References * * * Official sites: * * Appointment with F.E.A.R. 17 18